Game Notes: Ramon Cabrera is 15-for-39 in his last ten games, with six doubles and five walks. Heading in to tonight’s game he had a .343/.418/.457 line in 140 at-bats in the second half of the season. Tyler Waldron has allowed three earned runs in 17.2 innings over his last three starts, with an 11:7 K/BB ratio. Victor Black has a 1.74 ERA this year in 57 innings, with an 83:28 K/BB ratio.

Game Notes: Today is Justin Howard’s birthday, and he celebrated with his second homer of the year in game one. In game two he went 2-for-3 with a triple, making him 4-for-6 with a triple and a homer. Last year on his birthday he went 4-for-5. Dan Grovatt hit his ninth homer of the year.

Game Notes: Kirk Singer has five multi-hit games in his last seven games. Kyle Kaminska had given up one earned run in 13 starts over his previous two outings heading in to this start. All of his damage came in the third, and he left after the inning, presumably due to a single inning pitch limit.

Game Notes: D.J. Crumlich extended his hitting streak to eight games. He is 13-for-35 in his last ten games. Joely Rodriguez has given up 12 earned runs in 16.2 innings over his last four starts. He had given up 13 earned runs in 43 innings over nine starts prior to that. Infielder Jimmy Rider had to come on to pitch an inning due to the amount of pitchers that were used in the blowout.

Tim Williams

Tim is the owner and editor in chief of Pirates Prospects. He started the site in January 2009, and turned it into his full time job during the 2011 season. Prior to starting Pirates Prospects, Tim worked with AccuScore.com, providing MLB, NHL, and NFL coverage to various national media outlets, including ESPN Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Sports, and the Wall Street Journal. He also writes the annual Prospect Guide, which is sold through the site. Tim lives in Bradenton, where he provides live coverage all year of Spring Training, mini camp, instructs, the Bradenton Marauders, and the GCL Pirates.

I miss the player profiles that used to be done… Irwin would make a good profile, or maybe Brock Holt. Tim would you consider Brock’s season a breakout type season that elevates him to a higher prospect caliber – say an impact guy – or are the defensive concerns going to hold him down?

http://www.piratesprospects.com Tim Williams

The player profiles were similar to the ones done in the Prospect Guide. We had Irwin as the #39 prospect coming in to the year, and not much has changed from his scouting report. He’s just continuing his success in to the upper levels.

As for Holt, not much has changed with him. He’s hitting for a high average, but he isn’t drawing a ton of walks, and he’s not hitting for power (.109 ISO). He’s not going to hit like this in the majors. Best case he hits close to his minor league career .315, but even then he’s more of a leadoff type with little power and poor defensive skills at short. He still profiles as a utility player in the majors.